At 11:03 AM 2/14/02 -0800, Adrian Teo wrote:
>With all the hammering that YEC is getting in this forum, it appears that
>the only other alternative is evolution. However, it seems to me that
>Old-earth creationism (OEC) is another viable alternative that seem to be as
>consistent with the evidence as evolution is.
>
>Assuming that God created all life forms in their own "kinds" (however one
>chooses to define what this means, but it almost certainly must be above the
>level of the species), either simultaneously, or at different times, it
>seems to me that this perspective is able to account for all the scientific
>evidence that evolution can.

The problem is that contrary to the ostrich-like claims of many
anti-evolutionists, there are indeed numerous transitional forms in the
fossil record. I would suggest looking at
http://www.glenn.morton.btinternet.co.uk/transit.htm
We start with Panderichthids who only have gills, and fins, go through
animals which have both gills and lungs and legs which can't support their
body and then into animals with gills, lungs and legs capable of locomotion
and then into animals who lost the gills.

This presents a real problem to the OEC because there is no clear cut place
where one can draw a line and say "God created this one and not that one."

>Microevolution is accepted, and accounts for a
>wide array of observations. Extinction is also allowed in this view, which
>explains why we don't see many creatures that we find in the fossil record.
>What we find in common across different species (physical structures,
>genetic sequences, etc.) could be accounted for by the fact that God
>recycles basic building blocks in different types of creatures. I'm
>wondering if people can think of data that this view is unable to account
>for, because, on the surface, it seems to me like this may be a viable
>alternative for Christians to take.

Transitional forms. Even the young-earther Berlinski on the 1997 PBS debate
was forced to admit that there were reptile to mammal transitional
forms. And the Cambrian is not the place where phyla first formed nor did
life first appear on earth in the Cambrian. Neither did multi-cellular life
first appear in the Cambrian. Everything suggested by OEC's about where
and when God specially created seems to be wrong.